The Best Vacuum for Cleaning Dried Cat Vomit Off the Windowsill

cleaning hacks for three dirty jobs!

1. What is the Best Vacuum for Cleaning Dried Cat Vomit Off the Windowsill?

Ok, I know you’re all thinking the answer is “the dog” - but you’re wrong! If you had been paying attention, you would have noted that I specified dried cat vomit, and if the dog had wanted it in the first place, it would never have had the chance to dry. So either it is on a windowsill that is inaccessible to dogs, or the dogs were already “full up” on cat vomit, and now it is a solid, hardened mass and, due to the angle, they can’t pry it off with their teeth (though telltale surface irregularities indicate they have tried).

So now its your problem.

After facing this cleaning challenge multiple times, I have determined the best solution is to whip out a canister vacuum: I choose the Miele Classic C1 Pure Suction Bagged Canister Vacuum, because it is the cheapest version of a good vacuum that I can currently afford (if I had all the money, I would go for this one, with “Enhanced Cleaning Designed for pet owners”). Take off the attachments, crank it up to high and go at it with the hard plastic edge of the nozzle. This will both dislodge and suck away the “cake”, as well as chasing down any errant kibble. A final wipe with a wet rag should take care of the rest.

2. How to Keep your Floors Dirt Free in Mud Season, and Clean in General

In Maine, we have something called “mud season”, which supposedly just occurs in early spring, after the snow melt and before the green things start growing, but actually occurs at various times throughout the year, whenever you have rain and a dirt footpath with high clay content. So if you have dogs in your house, with access to a back yard, their paws will often serve as dirt stamps, tracking prints through at least three rooms and all the way up onto an upholstered chair if you don’t catch them in time.

First of all, it will be helpful to find the mud patches closest to your back door and cover these with a good coating of straw. The spots are typically the culprits - the “inkwells” for the paw prints. If you can thwart the inkwell, the print problem will be greatly reduced.

Beyond that, it helps to have a quantity of terrycloth bar rags on hand. A few years ago I purchased a box of 130 of these from ULine industrial supply. I now see that I can get them from Amazon as well and in a choice of colors. I use these rags for many things: drying my hands after washing, dry and wet-wiping counters and tables, sacrificial rags for nasty jobs, general use in the car and for picnics, dusting the furniture and wet-wiping the floor. I throw them in the wash frequently, and typically 20 to 30 of them are in circulation (clean, being used or in the wash) at any given time - thus the need for the high quantity (you can also purchase them in lower quantities, or make them by cutting an old towel into rag-sized pieces).

They make great mops, obviating the need for something like a “swiffer”. This appeals to me because I like to keep the gadget-level as low as possible. I just soak the rag with water, squeeze it a bit so it is not sopping wet, plop it on the floor and smoosh it back and forth with my foot. If you are extra fancy and nimble, you can proceed backwards, so as not to step through what you have just cleaned. Preceded by a quick sweep, I use this method for daily cleaning (takes a minute or two):

For more thorough mopping, I use the O-Cedar Rinse Clean Spin Mop, which cleans using only water.

3. How to Prevent Your Toilet from Becoming Totally Disgusting

If there is a male in your house (perhaps even you) they are apt to indulge in “free-peeing”, the practice of letting one’s mind and aim wander when urinating into a toilet bowl. It only takes an errant drop or two - overshooting the back of the rim or traveling down the outside of the bowl to accumulate, dry and darken - and if this happens on a daily basis, after a week it will become a smelly, deep-yellow resin that no one wants to deal with.

It has even been suggested that females contribute to this problem, though science has yet to prove it.

Sadly, and contrary to my chapter heading, there is no way to prevent this. As long as humans get up to pee in the middle of the night, there will be pee on and around toilets. The best you can do is keep a cleaning spray nearby (I use Annie’s Pure and Simple Peppermint All Purpose Cleaner - this link does not even earn me a commission, but I like the product so much that I promote it whenever I can). Every day or three, give a few sprays to the toilet seat (including the part right behind it) as well as the floor and the outside of the bowl (just the front part, not all the complicated bits, unless of course the pee has migrated that far). Wipe it down with two big wads of toilet paper (one for the toilet itself, the other for the floor) and flush it away. This will take 60 seconds, plus or minus.

Power Couple

If you want to get extra fancy, squirt some Dr. Bronner’s Eucalyptus Pure-Castile Liquid Soap into your bowl, scrub it around with the toilet brush and flush. Together with the exterior cleaning: two-minutes to a fresh, clean toilet!

And remember to clean fearlessly - this is important! Once that initial shellac of nastiness is cleared away, regular quick maintenance is very easy to do - as long as you make sure to do it.

FULL DISCLOSURE! Sometimes I include Affiliate Links in my articles. This means that if you purchase an item from these links, I will receive a small commission. I only ever recommend items or companies that I have used and am VERY happy with - and if I ever link to an item that I haven’t used, I make this clear in the article.